Dawson's Creek - 512 - Sleeping Arrangements

 Original air date: January 23, 2002

We are back at the creek and jumping back in to find out where all that drama from last episode will lead us. Will Joey seriously become a singer? Will Dawson and Jen be living together blissfully? Is Jack going to do something soon? Let's find out.

The episode opens on Pacey so we're starting off strong, I see. Emma Swan returns to us as Melanie Shea Thompson, the girl Pacey was seeing over the summer and who vanished after the first episode of the season, it felt like. They reminisce after he invites her onto his boat and he tells her he has a job to which she seems shocked because he's a "cute slacker" in her words. That feels really weird and condescending so I'm not sure why Pacey seems to like her so much. He will learn but that's a massive red flag that she just views him as a poor fetish for herself. She informs him that her uncle sold the boat which means that Pacey is going to need a place to stay. But, Melanie has come with more news and it's that her uncle bought a bigger boat (fucking rich people) and he's going to be sailing around the Greek Islands in 3 days. He wants Pacey to sail with him. Pacey is obviously excited but also hesitant since he's kind of got a job already that he seems to really enjoy. She tells him to think about it and thus we have our big Pacey-centric conflict of the episode.

I am not complaining about this. MOAR PACEY!

In our B-plot, Jen is getting ready in the bathroom when Dawson enters and invites her to a few things tonight but Jen is way too busy with school and the radio show. She's applying make up and Dawson remarks that he didn't think she was that into make up to which she responds that men have no idea how much make up it takes to look like she doesn't care about it. Word. Guys don't even understand what natural (as in absolutely zero make up) looks like anymore. Except maybe my husband because I haven't much bothered with make up since starting to work from home in 2020. He asks where his toothbrush is and whoops, Jen thought it was old and used it to separate her lashes? I'm no beauty guru but that sounds like an infection waiting to happen. An old fucking toothbrush, something that someone's been using for months to brush bits of food out of their teeth, is what you want to put close to your eyeball? I'd be both pissed and grossed out at this but Dawson seems cool with the whole thing and asks to use her toothbrush instead and maybe these two are meant for each other because neither one seems concerned about germs whatsoever. Jen is against this idea and it's framed as Jen being weird but like, she's right here. Don't share toothbrushes. I don't care if you do kiss. Toothbrushes are meant for single person use. She then gets freaked out about him using her drawer before realizing she's not being welcoming to the boyfriend she practically begged to move in here and apologizes. Dawson is fine and says she's not scaring him off. Guys, has Dawson grown? Is he...an ok person now? I'm, as the kids say, shook.

In Wilder's classroom he is talking about how hard it is to write a novel and I can relate. Check out my novel, Lost Souls by the way (always be plugging). He sends them on their way to read the first two novels on their syllabus but calls Joey aside. Why? To ask her if she wants to get to know anyone more in class. He then points out a boy who is waiting around named, Elliot Sawyer and then calls him out in front of everyone. Ok, this is played off as funny banter but I hate it. This feels really gross and manipulative. Especially if Wilder does like Joey. He's essentially ridiculing and humiliating a boy who's her age to make him appear less than in front of Joey and it feels so inappropriate. Even if he weren't interested in Joey, I would hate this because it's none of his business. Let Elliot talk to her on his own terms or not at all if he's too shy or maybe even changes his mind. He leaves them alone and Elliot asks if Joey remembers him. She doesn't and he reminds her that he sat behind her in E-Con but then he mentions that party they went to at the beginning of the season where she got drunk and dumped Dawson before he quit school altogether to be with her. She remembers but also that he slept with Audrey so she nopes out of the situation and rushes off to the next class.

Jen is helming her radio show but her CD skips and because she doesn't have a back up track, she asks for requests. Someone calls in and she lays the groundwork that she will not ever play Limp Bizkit because she has excellent tastes. The caller wants to ask if she has a boyfriend though. The caller is a woman, for reference and she asks because she wants advice on hers, specifically the sex not lasting long enough. Jen says it's a problem that can definitely be fixed and mentions that male egos are fragile and she's not lying.

Meanwhile, Jack appears in this episode and he's doing something. He's moving in to his frat house and Dawson is helping him with his stuff. The room is amazing and even has it's own bathroom. Blossom, one of the recruits and if they ever explained why that's his nickname, I missed it and I'm not going back, tells Jack he won a lottery to get the room. Jack is stoked until Eric, a guy he pledged with comes in to help Blossom move a bar into their room. Jack is suspicious, why would a senior frat member give up a super nice private room to move in with a pledge?

At the restaurant, Danny is trying to get Audrey to deal with a difficult table but she gives him sass instead which is fun but my god, if I'd talked that way to any of my bosses, they'd probably have fired me. Pacey comes in and tries to talk to Danny (Brecher) but he brushes him off and tells him about a guy he had to fire so now Pacey needs to be trained to make their bread. He also says that Pacey has a great talent and that he doesn't know what he'd do without him. Audrey sees that Pacey is upset but he's not ready to talk about it and just says it's nothing.

Dawson gets back to Grams' house only to find her on the couch playing video games. It's a delightful little scene as she complains that it's the work of the devil because she's been playing it for a few hours now and can't stop. She asks him how registration went and Dawson isn't sure because he already feels like he doesn't fit in there. Grams thinks he'll be fine and Dawson actually acknowledges how awkward it must be for her to have him living with them and dating Jen. Grams agrees with him but says she's adjusting and fine with it and Dawson assures her that whatever rules she sets, he will abide them. Oh my god, is Dawson showing respect right now? This season has floored me with Dawson's characterizations, it's like the writers were listening to all the complaints about him and are trying really hard this time to redeem him without trying to retcon how things happened. It's weird. 

Also Grams playing video games is adorable

Grams tells Dawson that as long as they are kind to each other, he will never hear a peep out of her. I actually really love this interaction. Grams mentions that Jen is on the radio so they turn it on only, instead of playing music, they hear she is offering relationship advice. Her words about guys being not all that charitable basically saying that no matter how nice the guy, they eventually leave. Dawson looks uncomfortable and Grams does her best to say that Jen is probably just being showy and doesn't believe what she's saying but Dawson isn't so sure.

Joey is at the library looking for the books assigned to her when she comes across one by Professor Wilder, who magically just happens to be in the library and walks up to her. This is getting creepy and I don't like this guy. I'm sorry, Ken Marino, I'm sure you're lovely but Wilder is a creep. He gives off a meta critique of himself for assigning his own book in his syllabus but we all agree that even if he puts his work down, he wants his kids to read it for his own ego and is padding his wallet (most kids probably bought a copy). Joey sasses him and Wilder remarks that she's getting too sassy for her own good and that if she keeps it up all the boys in class will be flirting with her. This is extremely inappropriate and I don't care if Joey is 18 and "legal" this is gross. He's cozying up to a student and actively trying to torch boys her age that are more appropriate for her from interacting with her. Don't tell me that he was just being "quirky" by calling out Elliot for wanting to talk to her, that was a deliberate humiliation and his bringing it up again just reinforces to me that he did it on purpose so he could keep Joey to himself. Anyway, he's gross and he leaves her while jokingly telling her not to stay up all night reading it.

Audrey finally gets Pacey to tell her what's bugging him and he mentions the new boat opportunity. She tells him he should go so then he freaks out about Danny having to train someone else after spending so much time training him. Audrey then tells him to stay and he laughs telling her she's not great at advice. Audrey says that if boating is his dream then he should go if it's what he really wants to do.

Back at the Frat House, Jack talks to Blossom about the weird rooming situation. He tries to pretend like everything is all cool but when Jack presses him, he admits that someone was uncomfortable rooming with him and since it was too late to reshuffle everyone, he gave up his room to Jack. Jack immediately guesses that Eric, the guy Blossom is now rooming with is the one who had a problem but Blossom tries to say it doesn't matter and that he's sorry and didn't see an issue like this coming. He leaves but Jack still looks upset.

Pacey finally manages to get Danny to stop for a minute so he can tell him about the boating opportunity. He's fine with the summer thing since summer help is easy to find but Pacey tells him he needs to leave in like three days. Danny looks taken aback but says he's cool with it if it's what he wants to do, does a quick announcement to the rest of the staff and then rushes off to the butcher as Pacey watches in mild confusion. 

Audrey asks Pacey how it went and he's confused that it went so well. Audrey suggests that maybe he wanted Danny to be disappointed because he actually likes the life he has built in Boston but Pacey insists it pales in comparison to the view of the Caribbean from a ship deck. They banter a bit about who's attracted to who which is kind of cute but I'll admit that my shipper heart was sour on this back in the day because I thought they were gearing up for Pacephine2.0 so I made myself hate this. Anyway, they land on neither of them being attracted to the other but Pacey offers her a ride home until Audrey spots Melanie waiting for him. Audrey teases him about still giving her a ride but while Pacey doesn't want to, he still will. Audrey insists she can take a cab so Pacey happily goes to Melanie to give her a ride instead.

Dawson is sitting outside Grams' house waiting for Jen to come home and let me tell you, I was bracing myself for him to become a big whiney whiner like he always does. Jen seems to have as much faith in him as I do because she asks him flat out if he listened to the show. Dawson admits he did and Jen said that a lot of Bostonians did and the producers want to give her a radio call in show. Dawson seems happy for her but Jen thinks he's been waiting outside to yell at her. Dawson surprises me by saying he was just waiting to see if she wanted to do something because they spent more time together when they lived apart. She says she's really busy and he just calmly says ok. Jen is gearing up for a fight but Dawson tells her she isn't going to get one because he's not her other boyfriends. He won't lie or cheat or leave. He's going to go to the movies and if she comes, cool, but if not he's going and then he's gonna come home to her no matter how hard she tries to push him away. He leaves her to think on that and she sighs. 

Jack confronts Eric about the room situation and he admits that he was uncomfortable rooming with someone who was so openly gay. Jack mocks him for being afraid that he'd get turned gay and Eric gets a bit defensive. He says that he doesn't want people thinking he's gay and Jack asks him why. Eric says he doesn't know why and admits he might be a bit homophobic. Jack is done with talking with him and says if he wants to have a real conversation he can find him but otherwise, leave him alone. I don't know how I feel about this story. It's really realistic and I like that Eric isn't really a bad guy. Maybe misinformed? The early 2000s were a time and hypermasculinity was just the norm. Growing up surrounded by that, it's understandable for Eric to think this way. Of course, it sucks for Jack because he just wanted to fit in and be treated like one of the guys instead of the token gay. He's been othered and that's uncool but I don't know if I want to write Eric off as an asshole for this. I do think this is a great storyline though and for once, something more is being done with this frat subplot than just making Jack suck. 

Audrey practically falls into her dorm room and right onto Joey's bed, she's so tired from waitressing. Joey tells her to get out but Audrey thinks that it's fine and more action than her bed usually gets. Joey retorts that she actually got asked out and after getting mildly excited, Audrey calls her out that she said no. It's not because of her insane fixation on Dawson though, it's because he'd already slept with Audrey. She describes him as a Crispin Glover type that they met at the Freshman party and Audrey remembers and says she didn't sleep with him. Joey said she saw him leave their room in the morning but Audrey says that he walked her back to the dorm. She also said that as soon as he found out Joey was her roommate he non-stop gushed about how awesome she is and Audrey fell asleep. Joey gets oh crap face and asks why Audrey didn't say anything before. Audrey teases her that she might have if she knew how cute Joey thought he was. 

Melanie is telling Pacey about how bad she felt for him when they docked and I really don't like her. She's got this idea of Pacey as this lost little puppy that she can play with but then discard when she's done with him. Pacey deserves better. He asks if she's going to join them but she's staying behind because of school, friends, and family. Pacey asks her about the guy she'd been seeing but she doesn't want to talk. Instead, they get busy in a nice, safe, fade to black way. 

In the morning, Melanie is rushing out the door and Pacey tries to tell her to wait so he can walk her out and take her to a bagel place. She declines the offer because she's way too busy. Pacey flatters her with compliments and says she makes him want to stay ashore but that would ruin her fantasy. I think it finally clicks in for Pacey that this is all he'll ever be to her, just her summer fling and a fun story but that she's never going to see him as long term material. 

Poor Pacey. I would never say no to breakfast with you

Back at Grams' place, Dawson walks into the bathroom to find two toothbrushes in the holder once more. Jen comes in and asks if she got him the right one. She asks him not to leave dried shaving cream chunks in the sink and he agrees. Jen admits that she wears make up as a kind of way to mask herself and hide from the world. And that his being here, scares her because he's seeing her with her mask off. I get what she's saying and I think there are definitely women who use make up this way and it's why it gets a bad rap. I think that make up is fine. I'm not married to make up, most days I go completely free of it because I just can't be bothered but when I did put the effort in, it was because I enjoyed it. I loved adding some colour to my face and it gave me a confidence boost because I put in effort and it was a learned skill. I never had a thought that it was for anyone other than me. But, I do see what she's actually saying is that she's terrified of letting her guard down and being her absolute true self in front of Dawson and he gets it too and acknowledges how scary it can be. He asks if it would help if he told her how much he likes what he sees and she says it would. He thanks her for his toothbrush and they kiss. I'm sitting here, impressed that this argument was handled so maturely. It's refreshing. 

Joey finds Elliot on campus and tries to explain herself and he affirms that he never slept with Audrey. She asks him out for coffee and he agrees and they walk off together, chatting about how embarrassing that moment was in Wilder's class. Yeah, that was by design, Joey. Because Wilder wanted you not to go with Elliot. Elliot seems sweet but I don't think he lasts.

Jack hands his keys to Blossom. He says he's not quitting the Frat but doesn't want to live there if he's going to be made to feel like an outcast. Eric sees this and runs out to stop Jack. Eric apologizes and hands him the keys to his room. He says that Jack can room with him because the whole thing has opened his eyes to how closed minded he's been. Jack agrees to think about it. This is the fastest growth I've ever seen but it's nice so I'm gonna let it slide. It would be great if people in the real world could be educated this quickly.

Audrey finds Pacey on his boat, packing up his things and pesters him about his liaison with Melanie. She doesn't really want to know but is just pestering him and urges him to come outside with her. When he does, the whole gang is standing out there to surprise him. They present him with a fancy gift and tell him how happy they are for him. Pacey opens it to find, and I had to look close at the closed captioning for this because I am not boat savvy, a sextant. I think it's kind of like a compass? It measures stuff though like altitudes. I don't even know but it looks pretty and it's a very sweet gift. Pacey says he can't accept it though because surprise! He's not going. He's packing because he has to move, since the boat was sold and not because he's going away on a big cruise. Pacey gives back the sextant because he knows how much they cost so they can return it and they all celebrate that the gang is staying together. Hooray.

Staying strong in Boston

Ok, so I have been saying this and you're probably bored of me saying it but I'm gonna say it again, this season is way, way better than season 4 in terms of energy, storylines, character growth, just everything. I think I love the college years unironically? I thought they were a dumpster fire but I think it only really starts to go down hill either later this season or next season. I am also floored at how much more likable Dawson is. He still screws up but it used to be every single episode that he acted whiney and entitled with no repercussions. I really think this is why I preferred him with Jen. He's chill and mature with Jen (not counting season 1 where he was awful to her) whereas with Joey he reverts into this awful douche canoe always and he can't seem to grow out of that. I'm disappointed with Jack so far but this episode at least he seems to be getting into more interesting issues with Frat life than "likes to party and is pimping his friends out to his Frat bros." I'm here for it. This is drama that actually interests me again. I'm excited to see the next episode, Something Wilder.